A day’s seminar co-organised by Oxford Museum of Natural History (OUMNH) and the Natural Sciences Collections Association. This one-day course will cover all you need to know about looking after entomology collections, from modern collections management techniques and to practical remedial conservation skills. Starting with the basics, the morning session will focus on collections assessment and storage. The afternoon will involve participants in a hands-on practical session covering the various materials and methods used to conserve specimens. Further information from the day will be made available via an electronic resource pack.

The aim of this one-day course is to give participants practical, usable advice that can be implemented quickly and cost-effectively. Staff at the OUMNH have experience dealing with a wide range of collection types and storage scenarios across the sector. Various case-studies from the collections will be discussed on the day and participants will be encouraged to share examples from their own institutions.

Speakers include Zoë Simmons, Amo Spooner and James Hogan. All of them work within the Hope Entomology Collections at Oxford University Museum of Natural History and between them have over 35 years of experience working with entomology collections.

TICKETS

£75 NatSCA Members (please email membership@natsca.org for the promotional code)

£95 Non-members

Lunch is included

Numbers are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment. If you need to book by PO and invoice rather than credit card please contact treasurer@natsca.org

PROGRAMME

9:30 – 10:00: Arrival (refreshments will be available)

10:00 – 10:10: Welcome

10:10 – 10:30: What is an insect?

10:30 - 11:30: Collections assessment

11:30 -11:45: Break

11:45 – 12:00: Wet storage

12:00 – 13:00: Dry storage

13:00- 14:00: LUNCH

14:00 – 15:00: Practical session (conservation of insect specimens, incl. materials)

15:00 – 15:30: Important things to consider

15:30 – 16:00: Q&A with case studies from participants, closing remarks

CONTRIBUTORS

Speakers include Zoë Simmons, Amo Spooner and James Hogan. All of them work within the Hope Entomology Collections at Oxford University Museum of Natural History and between them have over 35 years of experience working with entomology collections.

Zoë Simmons is Collection Manager for Diptera and Arachnida. Her latest work-based project has been on the documentation and re-housing of the Octavius Pickard-Cambridge collection of spirit preserved exotic spiders but she has plenty of experience with dry collection materials too. She teaches numerous short courses on many aspects of collections care and preservation.

Amo Spooner is Collections Manager for Coleoptera and Small Orders. Her work within the department has focused on the care and conservation of 19th century entomology collections. She is particularly skilled at graphology, an expertise that is put to good use when hunting down elusive type specimens within the historic collections.

James Hogan is Collections Manager for Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera. He has a particular passion for ground beetles belonging to the sub-family Scaratiinae but recent work has focused on butterflies. The collections at OUMNH are particularly rich in an array of historically important specimens and much effort has been focused on the documentation of these materials.

We encourage all participants to send in particular problems or queries they may have ahead of time. For this and for any further information on the content of the course please contact the team at OUMNH on life@oum.ox.ac.uk.